Manchester United suffer shock loss

Published August 16, 2002

PARIS, Aug 15: English giants Manchester United slumped to one of their worst ever European defeats on Wednesday when Hungarian minnows Zalaegerszegi pulled off a shock last minute 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League qualifying round clash.

Twenty-one-year old substitute Bela Koplarovics, who had only been on the pitch for seven minutes, struck the decisive goal in the first minute of injury time when he converted a low cross from Tamas Szamosi past Roy Carroll from close range.

But it will be United substitute Phil Neville who will have to take a huge share of the blame after letting a right wing cross sail over his head which allowed Szamosi to break clear.

To make matters worse, United, playing without injured 30-million-pound Rio Ferdinand, lost defender Wes Brown with an ankle injury after just five minutes and Neville took his place.

The United manager, who now must hope that his team can overcome the deficit in the second leg, also said that the injury to Brown was also causing concern.

Elsewhere, AC Milan did their best to join United in the dunces’ corner. The Italians needed a 68th minute goal from Filippo Inzaghi to scrape a 1-0 win against Slovan Liberec.

But the goal was a fortunate one with Czech keeper Zbynek Hauzr making a mess of a shot from Brazilian Serginho which allowed Inzhagi to strike his 34th career European goal

Bayern Munich came away from Yugoslavia with a 3-0 win against Partizan Belgrade 3-0 with goals from Michael Tarnat, Jens Jeremies and Peruvian international Claudio Pizarro.

Scottish champions Celtic bounced back from conceding a second minute goal to defeat Swiss title holders FC Basle 3-1 at Parkhead.

Sweden goal machine Henrik Larsson led the fightback from the penalty spot before second half strikes from Chris Sutton and Momo Sylla, who struck two minutes from time, eased Celtic worries after Christian Gimenez stunned the Glasgow giants in the second minute.

However, late in the game Larsson missed a penalty which means the Swiss will still harbour hopes of stealing a result in the return.

In Sarajevo, Kieron Dyer scored after 55 minutes to give Bobby Robson’s Newcastle a 1-0 away win against Zejeznicar.

One of Robson’s former clubs Barcelona also took a huge step towards the lucrative group stages of the competition with a 3-0 home win over Legia Warsaw of Poland.

Frank De Boer opened the scoring after just eight minutes before Juan Ramon Riquelme and Phillip Cocu added two more in the last ten minutes.

In Portugal, Inter Milan put aside the controversy over the future of Brazilian striker Ronaldo to record a 0-0 draw at Sporting Lisbon.

Champions League 3rd qualifying round results

In Donetsk:

Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Club Bruges 1

In Sofia:

Levski Sofia 0 Dinamo Kiev 1

In Sarajevo:

Zeljeznicar Sarajevo 0 Newcastle United 1

In Milan:

AC Milan 1 Slovan Liberec 0

In Belgrade:

Partizan Belgrade 0 Bayern Munich 3

In Budapest:

Zalaegerszeg 1 Manchester United 0

In Glasgow:

Celtic 3 Basle 1

In Graz:

Graz AK 0 Lokomotiv Moscow 2

In Trondheim:

Rosenborg Trondheim 1 Brondby 0

In Barcelona:

Barcelona 3 Legia Warsaw 0

In Lisbon:

Sporting 0 Inter Milan 0

In Sofia:

Maccabi Haifa 2 Sturm Graz 0

In Nicosia:

APOEL Nicosia 2 AEK Athens 3

In Genk:

Genk 2 Sparta Prague 0

In Rotterdam:

Feyenoord 1 Fenerbahce 0

In Oporto:

Boavista 0 AJ Auxerre 1

—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Doctor attacked
09 Jun, 2026

Doctor attacked

AN act of reprehensible violence has shaken the medical community. On Saturday, an employee of the Provincial Civil...
AJK flare-up
Updated 09 Jun, 2026

AJK flare-up

The situation started deteriorating after a trader affiliated with the JAAC was reportedly shot in an altercation with law-enforcers.
Fault lines
09 Jun, 2026

Fault lines

THE April 8 ceasefire that halted hostilities between Israel and Iran has encountered its most serious test yet....
Soft on traders
08 Jun, 2026

Soft on traders

THE Fixed Tax Asaan Scheme for traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs200m has been designed as a ‘pragmatic...
Ceasefire in name
Updated 08 Jun, 2026

Ceasefire in name

Both sides accuse the other of violating the truce that was supposed to halt the conflict in April, yet neither appears willing to abandon negotiations altogether.
Damaged childhoods
08 Jun, 2026

Damaged childhoods

CHILD abuse is so prevalent that the UN ranked Pakistan as the least safe country for children. Even so, more than...